(1) today in Hong Kong, Democratic Party's founding member & former chairman Martin Lee, media tycoon Jimmy Lai & former lawmakers Margaret Ng, Cyd Ho, Lee Cheuk-yan, Albert Ho & "Long Hair" Leung Kwok-hung were convicted of organising & taking part in an news.rthk.hk/rthk/en/compon…
(2) unlawful assembly on 18/8/2019, while former lawmakers Au Nok-hin & Leung Yiu-chung have earlier pleaded guilty to the same charges - they faced a female judge who didn't buy their bull - judge will hear mitigation pleas on 16 April before passing sentence
(3) their defense lawyers had argued that the activists were only taking part in the procession "to help disperse the crowd", but the judge noted that some of the defendants were among those carrying a huge banner at the front of the march (see pic below)
(4) Assembly in Victoria Park in HK that day - gotta love Epoch Times for loading tons of footage of Jimmy Lai's & his pals' action that day, which incriminated them in court today, proving that they were active leaders
(8) today's Hong Kong TVB Pearl's report: judge found opposition politicians guilty of illegal assembly & confirmed that HK police action was lawful & constitutional
(6) The maximum penalty for each of the two charges (organizing & participating in an unauthorized assembly) is 5 years of imprisonment, & those convicted in a district court can be sentenced to up to 7 years in jail
(1) New York University (NYU is demanding apologies from pro-Palestine student activists, assigning “moral” homework in a disciplinary process by forcing them to attend "Ethics Integrity Series" classes which include students would be assigned a “reflection paper"
(2) the students are explicitly instructed not to “justify” their actions & were told to turn their papers in by May 29 in “12-point Times New Roman or similar font”
(3) one student said: “I’m not going to apologize for opposing genocide.” The risk to her — someone who has finished her Ph.D. work — is the threat of a mark on her transcript, she said, for a failure to comply
(1) Giant pandas Ya Ya & Le Le can finally come home to China following recent allegations of mistreatment of the pandas by the Memphis Zoo by animal rights activists
(1) Today in Hong Kong, a teenager was jailed for 3 years over 29 offensive posts published on YouTube, Discord & the LIHKG forum in a span of 28 months, after pleading guilty to the charges #RaamWTF
(2) Chui Hoi-chun, an 18-year-old part-time waiter, was convicted of for parodying “March of the Volunteers” on social media in the 2nd conviction under the national anthem law, as well as for charges of insulting the flag & publishing seditious remarks
(3) what he did - & he committed some of the offenses while "studying in New Zealand"
(1) More McBNO woes 😰: McBNO boners from Hong Kong who've moved to the UK share tips on how to stay warm during the current energy crisis in the UK in Facebook groups for exchanging tips on coping with new life there #RaamWTF
This one lamented that he got frostbites on his
(2) foot soles & toes, & can't sleep, had to buy a heater to warm his feet.... according to him, it helps to put one's feet with frostbites in front of this heater for 30 mins
This one found out that sticking bubble wraps on windows makes the flat warmer
(3) This one wants to avoid buying too many candles to keep warm (costs money), said a friend taught him to wrap up used up leftover candle wax with foil & burn it to keep warm
(1) FT interviewed 23 sex workers in Cardiff in the UK, incl a former civil servant who had to become a prostitute to feed her family, incl her husband - he even drove her to have sex with a customer in a hotel - she said: “I’m doing this for my family, my house, and my husband”
(2) why the former British civil servant, who is her 30s, started to sell her body
(3) Five of the 23 British sex workers interviewed say they returned to the sector in 2022 & that rising living costs wholly or partly influenced their move - the no of male sex work has also risen in recent years with the rise of casual selling on online platforms